4.4

Star Wars + Angry Birds = Good Times

By now anyone who has a smartphone, Mac, PC, tablet, really any type of computing device has probably tried out Rovio’s Angry Birds. If by chance you are one of the few uninitiated, Angry Birds is a series of casual games that task you as the player with beating up pigs that the birds eggs. For their latest release Rovio teamed up with LucasArts to make a Midichlorian rich sequel Angry Birds Star Wars.

The game follows the original trilogy’s story lines beginning with Episode IV: A New Hope. While you progress, abilities become available through the birds that you gain access to. Starting on Tatooine the Luke bird eventually gets a lightsaber, Obi-wan has force push, Han has a blaster (and he does shoot first). As the game progresses it integrates mechanics from Angry Birds Space as you assault the Pig Star while battling Darth Vader, use gravity wells to take out tie fighter pigs, and freeze pig troopers in the vacuum of space. Post Pig Star the game continues on Hoth, setting the stage for an inevitable sequel to adapt the stories of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

After the free to play levels there remains another 40 levels of The Path of The Jedi taking place on Dagobah that require you to ether get a 3-star score on all of the levels in the game or pay $1.99 to access. The other purchasable item in the game is the new version of the level clearing über-bird the Mighty Eagle – the Millennium Falcon, you can get 20 to use for $1.99 or earn them as you play through the game. There are also bonus levels that include R2-D2 and C-3PO.

The plot of Episode IV comes across really well through both the gameplay and a handful of animations. Watching scenes from the classic film be retold through avian vignettes is almost like watching a silent film. You’ll also find Star Wars fan in-jokes interspersed throughout the game. The only story component that I feel that was a misstep is that (spoilers for a movie from 1977) once Obi-wan dies you still use him to fight pigs. This honestly confused me for a bit considering LucasArts had oversight on this project. I wonder if no one noticed or did someone just not care?

Both the sound and visuals won’t leave players disapointed. The sound design of this game is well above what you would expect for a phone / tablet game. A large part of this is because LucasArts provided official sound assets to use in the game. Transitions and screen wipes from the movie appear with the same musical changes as well. From the John Williams score to blasters and lightsabers, everything sounds excellent. Visually, Rovio has been at this for a while and they know what they are doing when it comes to design. The cartoon look typical of Angry Birds has been updated in ways you may not expect by the merging of the Star Wars characters with the titular birds in the game.

If you are a completionist, expect to lose a lot of time to this game. As is the case with all previous Angry Birds games, expect to get lost in it. Playing through the levels once will take roughly 7 hours, if you plan on 3-staring all of them expect it to take around 20. It will feel like less when you finally pull off a near impossible shot the last 3 hours of trying will all be forgotten. That is, unless you already threw your tablet across the room in a fit of pure rage.

All in all, Rovio has succeeded in releasing a game that should both invite the younger players of Angry Birds to be fans of Star Wars, and vice versa. Angry Birds Star Wars easily merges fans of both series to enjoy this entry in the franchise.

A game that combines the fun and replayability of Angry Birds with Star Wars’ massive fan base? This is a match made in heaven, or maybe Coruscant. Thankfully, until we see a prequel version of the series, we shouldn’t see Jar Jar for at least a little while.

About the Author

Zach (beezn) Beason I suppose that I'm what happens when you give a kid a 25 gallon tub of Lego and a lot of free time. I play games, I take things apart, and I build things (not as successfully as I took them apart). On occasion I have been known to put pen to paper and write about games, movies, comics, basically a whole bunch of stuff.

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